


What If I Smiled At You?

by gatorospreybethethunder (lnburoker)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Celebs AU, Fake Dating, I lied it's tyler being a shit and pally being exasperated but fond, M/M, Tampa Bay Lightning, and also them being stupid because they think the other isn't really in love with them, i don't even know what this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:44:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23642170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lnburoker/pseuds/gatorospreybethethunder
Summary: BoltsAU prompt: Tyler and Ondrej are sick of all the tabloids speculating who they’re dating based on who they smiled at that day, so they decide to pretend to date one another. What a perfect plan, right?
Relationships: Alex Killorn/Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov/Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Johnson/Ondrej Palat
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As stated in the summary, this is my attempt to fill one of the prompts from the fantastic Bolts AU tumblr. Just doing my best to give us another way to escape! I have bits and pieces of the other chapters finished, but I wanted to post the first one to kick my ass into gear finishing the rest... we'll see how that goes.

“These ones don’t even make sense, I’d have to be in two places at once,” Tyler bitches, shoving two tabloids into Ondrej’s chest as he makes his way through the door.

“Please come in, make yourself at home,” Ondrej says dryly, rolling his eyes as he shuts the door behind Tyler and follows him into the kitchen.

“Oh shove it, you had to buzz me through the gate. If you really didn’t want me here I wouldn’t be,” Tyler shoots back, settling onto one of the stools at the island. “Did you even look at the magazines?!”

“Calling them magazines is giving them too much credit,” Ondrej recites the oft quoted line from both of their publicists, shaking his head slightly at Tyler’s dramatics as he drops the items on the counter. They may be close friends – even best friends if Ondrej’s willing to be completely honest with himself – but Tyler can be truly exhausting at times. 

“Yeah, well, unless there’s something else to latch onto, the ACTUAL magazines are going to start picking this crap up when I go on that press tour for my movie next month. I am not prepared to be asked about how I’m a man whore for ten hours straight every day all over the world,” Tyler shoots back, pout firmly in place. 

Ondrej winces in sympathy. It’s true that the rumors linking Tyler to anyone he comes into close contact with are getting a bit ridiculous. “I thought people were still convinced you’re with Alex?” Ondrej queries as he crosses the room to grab a SmartWater. He waves the bottle in Tyler’s direction, grabbing another when Tyler holds out his hand with a nod of thanks. 

“Yeah they believed that for a while, but Alex finally decided that he’s going to ask Bray out, so I can’t really use him as a cover anymore,” Tyler explains, and while Ondrej can tell that he’s truly happy for one of his oldest friends, he knows the strain this sort of thing puts on Tyler. Press tours already cause him extra stress and anxiety so fielding inane questions about any person he’s ever so much as smiled politely at on top of it all… it certainly doesn’t help matters.

“It’s happening to you too now, you know,” Tyler mutters absently after a short silence, flipping through one of the tabloids and stabbing at a photo. “Unless there’s something you haven’t told me?” 

Ondrej shifts so that he can read the article – if it can truly be called that – next to the picture of he and Nikita leaving Nobu. “Sakra!” he mutters under his breath, pulling out his phone and wincing when he sees the message he already has from Nikita asking him to please confirm to Vladdy that they’d simply been having lunch to discuss a potential upcoming project. 

“Oooh, a Czech swear, you’re actually mad,” Tyler observes, sitting up a little straighter.

“It’s just… Nikita started something up with an old flame recently, and the last time they were together there were a lot of problems with jealousy,” Ondrej hedges, not wanting to betray any confidences. “And that’s not actually the first article.” He gestures to a pile of gossip rags on the kitchen table, sighing when Tyler starts cackling. 

“It’s getting to you too!” Tyler finally manages through his laughter. “The high and mighty shit was just an act, wasn’t it?”

“It was not…high and mighty?” Ondrej asks, realizing part way through his defense that he may have mistranslated. His English is good, but American idioms and phrases can be so confusing.

“Ah, sorry, it means like…acting like you’re better than worrying about that stuff, I guess,” Tyler explains. 

Ondrej rolls his eyes. Half the time when Tyler has to explain turns of phrase to him, he sounds more unsure about what he comes up with than Ondrej was in the first place. “I don’t worry,” he insists, ignoring Tyler’s scoff. “It is just frustrating that people focus on my love life and not my work. I’ve done a lot to be here, you know.” It’s more than frustrating, really. Ondrej hasn’t worked his ass off and been in tons of made for tv movies just to have people reduce him to his love life now that his career is finally gaining some traction. 

“I know,” Tyler agrees softly, nudging his water bottle softly against Ondrej’s to get him to look up. “I’m sorry dude, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Ondrej shrugs, waving off the apology with a small smile. They lounge around the kitchen in comfortable silence, Ondrej composing a sincere and apologetic text to both Vladdy and Nikita, including what he hopes is the right amount of disdain for the paparazzi and tabloid writers before sending it off.

That silence is broken by Tyler dropping his water bottle. “I’ve got it!” he yells, the sound mixing with Ondrej’s exasperated “Tyler!” as water spreads across the hardwood floor.

“Oh whatever, I’ll help you clean it up,” Tyler dismisses with a wave of his hand, stopping Ondrej as he heads toward the spill with a towel. “Drej, what if we convince everyone that you and I are dating?”

Ondrej stares at Tyler blankly, sure that he must have misunderstood or misheard him. There’s simply no way that he’s suggesting fake dating… the main plot point for several of the less inventive movies that Ondrej starred in early in his career. “What?” he finally manages.

“Come on, it would solve everything!” Tyler insists. “We already hang out, we can just do that more often, in more public places, and then we’d have someone to talk about when we get interviewed. Plus, no having to find dates for stupid parties and premieres and stuff.”

“You like having dates for those things, you always have sex with them afterwards,” Ondrej reminds Tyler, arching an eyebrow.

“Dude I can find some other way to have meaningless sex and this way I don’t have to pay for some stupid expensive tux for my date because I feel bad making them do it when I asked,” Tyler asserts, scowling when Ondrej makes a disbelieving sound. “What, I can!”

“Tyler,” Ondrej starts, stopping to take a deep breath. “You know I understand where you’re coming from, but is this a good idea?”

“Yes!” Tyler insists. “C’mon Drej, you know that if we give them something to latch on they’ll get bored, and we can mention each other’s projects in press. Plus we can actually go out and do things.”

“And be followed all over,” Ondrej points out.

“That happens already,” Tyler counters, arching an eyebrow and snagging the towel out of Ondrej’s hand, bending to soak up the spill that Ondrej had completely forgotten about. “Drej, you know I wouldn’t stop being friends with you or hanging out with you if you say no… but don’t you think it would make things easier, at least for a while?”

Ondrej stares at Tyler for a moment, trying with all his might to think of another argument, but he honestly can’t. Tyler’s right, it would at least stop them from having to field questions about every man or woman they come in contact with in view of the paparazzi. And the point Tyler made about the cross promotion they could do…his agent would love that. Although, speaking of… “Do we tell our agents it’s fake?” he asks Tyler, smiling hesitantly.

Tyler whoops, throwing the towel on the island and throwing himself at Ondrej in an embrace only rivaled by those Ondrej sees at sporting events when a team has won a big game. Ondrej laughs, squeezing Tyler back. “Good point though,” Tyler acknowledges once they pull back. “We probably should tell them, right? In case it blows up? It won’t!” he insists when Ondrej raises an eyebrow and starts to say something. “But, better safe than sorry and all that.”

Ondrej nods, since that was his main point anyway. “What about our families?” he asks hesitantly. He knows how close Tyler is with his parents, and doesn’t want to force him to live a lie to them, but…

“It’d probably be better for as few people to know as possible right?” Tyler points out. “Like maybe we can each tell one person other than our agents so we have someone to talk to? But I don’t think everyone should know because someone might slip out.”

Ondrej breathes a sigh of relief. “So you’re going to tell Alex, then?”

Tyler grins. “Am I that transparent?” 

Ondrej shrugs. “He’s your next best friend other than me.”

That causes Tyler to cackle. “I’m changing his name to that in my phone,” he informs Ondrej, still chuckling as he pulls said phone out of his pocket. “So where are you taking me on our first date?”

“Why am I taking you?” Ondrej demands. “This was your idea!”

“Let’s face it, out of the two of us, people will expect you to be the one who plans shit and me to be the one who fucks shit up,” Tyler snarks, fingers flying over his phone as he texts Alex. “So get planning bud, I’m gonna head home to change and I expect big things! Pick me up around eight.”

Ondrej gapes after Tyler as he strolls out of the kitchen, rolling his eyes at himself when he closes his mouth. This is exactly how things usually go in their friendship, he shouldn’t expect anything different from their fake relationship. He throws his water bottle in the recycling bin as he heads to his home office to search flashy first date options. If they’re going to do this, it might as well start off with a splash.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The (fake) dating begins...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not ENTIRELY sure where this is going, but things are gonna start moving from here!

Tyler knows that this plan is risky.

Hell, this might be the stupidest thing Tyler’s ever done, which, as Alex likes to remind him, is impressive considering the list of things to choose from. After all, despite his assurances to Ondrej of the contrary, there’s a very real chance this COULD blow up in their faces. Tyler tends to get snippy in relationships, after all. And he knows that Drej loves him, but how much will that change if he starts having to put up with a very specific brand of Tyler’s shit? Because to pull this off, they’re going to have to put on a pretty convincing show. The media are like sharks seeking out blood when it comes to the minute details they can find to tear things apart. Tyler’s had actual relationships torpedoed by those suckers because they found the little intricacies of what was going wrong and picked, picked, picked, until either he or his partner bought into the bullshit. 

Alex is only all too happy to remind him of this the moment Tyler lets him in on the plan. 

“Are you an idiot?” are the first words out of his mouth, followed quickly by, “I mean obviously, we both know that you are, but what the FUCK dude, this can only go badly.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows now that you finally got your head out of your ass and asked your boy out?” Tyler snarks, tipping his head toward where Brayden is happily soaking in sun by Alex’s pool.

“Do not think that you’re distracting me by reminding me that I finally got my own love life figured out,” Alex scolds him. “Dude, I love you, and that’s why I’m telling you that this can lead no where but to disaster. Like, you do realize that fake dating doesn’t ever work right? It only happens in the type of movies that we all bitch about but secretly love and even then there’s always problems. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“And I love you for that, but I know that I can do this, man!” Tyler exclaims. “Honestly, if I have to sit through one more interview where they insinuate that I’m a man whore because I smiled at three different people the day before I’m going to lose it and you know it’ll happen on the press tour if I don’t start seeing someone and get it out there before then.”

“Insinuate, huh? Finally start looking at that word of the day calendar your mom got you?” Alex jeers, taking a long pull of his beer. 

“Fuck you,” Tyler mutters, knowing that they’re both aware that’s exactly what’s been happening. Whatever, it’s helping improve his vocabulary for when he reads new scripts.

“I get where you’re coming from,” Alex admits after smirking at him for a few minutes like the infuriating piece of shit friend he is. “I just worry that you’re going to fuck things up with Drej and it’s going to hurt you, man. I know I’m your oldest friend, but I’m also secure enough in myself to realize that he’s your best friend. And I don’t want you to lose that.”

Tyler pulls in a shaky breath, taking a gulp of his own beer to quickly get a hold of himself at the tide of emotions Alex’s worse cause to well up in him. “I know,” he mutters once he’s got a hold of himself again. “And I appreciate that, ‘Lex, really, but Drej and I will be fine. Honestly I’m more worried about accidentally screwing him if we get wasted and it being awkward than anything.”

Alex gives him a flat look along the lines of ‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about you dickwad’, but Tyler ignores it. He’s had plenty of practice, Alex gives him that look about four times an hour on average, sometimes more when he’s feeling extra cranky.

“I’ve gotta go get ready for this date that Drej is taking me on, and I’ve gotta send an email to my agent,” Tyler informs him as he rises after finishing the dregs of his beer. “It’s really gonna be okay, man. And I’m really happy for you and Bray.”

* * *

Tyler finds himself feeling more nervous than he expected as he fiddles with the buttons of his suit jacket while he waits for Ondrej to pick him up for their date. He knows that Ondrej will pull out all the stops, he always does. But he’s actually concerned that they won’t be able to pull this off, no matter how much false bravado he’s thrown at Alex and Ondrej when they’ve brought up various objections. 

The doorbell ringing startles Tyler out of a potential doom spiral of what could go wrong and the many ways he could fuck Ondrej over with this plan. He shakes his head, going to open the door and pulling in a sharp breath when he sees how Ondrej’s dressed. He makes the pale grey suit and pastel blue dress shirt he’s wearing work for him in all the best ways, the jacket and pants perfectly tailored, and his hair artfully mussed. Tyler’s always known that Ondrej’s vaguely attractive at the least, but it’s never truly hit him the way that it is now. Ondrej smirks at him, making Tyler realize just how long he’s been staring. He sticks his tongue out at him, grabbing his wallet and keys from the table near the door and pulling the front door shut behind him to lock it. “Where are we going, lover boy?” he asks over his shoulder as he double checks the lock and pockets his stuff. 

Ondrej shakes his head as Tyler turns. “Oh no, if you made me put all this effort in, you’re going to be surprised. Beside, that’s more realistic. It’s what I’d do if this was a real date.”

Tyler does his best to ignore the little twinge in his heart when Ondrej phrases it like that. After all, this is fake and the more he gets reminded of that, the less likely he is to fuck it all up. He puts up a perfunctory argument because that’s just how things work between the two of them, but he’s secretly pleased that Drej doesn’t give in. 

* * *

Tyler has to admit, if this was a real date, he’d probably be putting out. 

Maybe that means he does deserve the man whore label the media is always trying to assign him, but this night has been fucking magical, okay? First Ondrej took him to Griffith Observatory to see the lights of the city. Tyler doesn’t care how long he’s lived here, he’s always going to get his breath taken away by the astounding view. 

After they finished up at the observatory, Ondrej took him over to Inn of the Seventh Ray, having called in a few favors to convince the restaurant to stay open later than normal for them. Tyler’s filet mignon had been amazing, and the truffle risotto Ondrej had let him sample had been so decadent Tyler had honestly moaned while eating it. The lemon tart they’d shared for dessert had been the perfect ending to a fantastic meal. 

“If this is how you treat all your dates, I don’t know how you’re not married already,” Tyler muses, enjoying the last of his wine and smirking when his words cause Ondrej to flush. “I’m serious babe! This was amazing. Thank you for planning it.”

Ondrej glances up at him through his eyelashes, smiling hesitantly at Tyler. “You’re welcome…babe.”

Tyler winks at him, leaning forward to press a kiss to Ondrej’s cheek just as their waiter comes over to check on them one last time, leaving the bill but assuring them there’s still no rush. Usually Tyler wouldn’t take advantage of that, especially when a place is staying open late especially for his party, but tonight… he’s tempted to stay as long as Drej’s willing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Ondrej's turn to have a conversation with his best friend, and Tyler's turn to plan the date. Things don't go quite as expected.

“This is stupid,” Nikita informs him as soon as Ondrej is finished explaining what he and Tyler are doing. “Ondrej, you’re in love with him already, how could this not go wrong?”

Ondrej freezes, spilling the water that he’d been about to take a sip of. “…what?” he manages after a few tense moments, staring intently at Nikita through the computer screen. “What did you just say?”

“Well…aren’t you?” Nikita asks, running his hand through his hair sheepishly. “I thought you were just refusing to talk about it, not that you didn’t know!”

“Didn’t know what, babe?” Vladdy asks, leaning down to press a kiss to Nikita’s temple and waving cheerfully at Ondrej before frowning at the look on his face. “Babe, what did you do?”

“I’m not in love with Tyler!” Ondrej finally pulls it together enough to protest, scowling when Vladdy laughs uproariously at him. “I’m serious Vladislav!” 

“You aren’t allowed to call him that,” Nikita warns, an edge to his voice, but even he can’t keep the smirk off his face as he and his boyfriend revel in Ondrej’s pain. “You really didn’t know?”

“NO!” Ondrej insists. “Mostly because it’s not true! We’re just best friends - oh shut up you’re best friends with Vladdy, we can have more than one best friend you jackass.” 

“Fine,” Nikita grumps. “But you really are in love with him. Either that or you’re the biggest pushover in the world and I just haven’t figured out the magic word.”

“Remember when he ditched our Cabo vacation because Tyler told him he had the flu?” Vladdy recalls gleefully. “So Drej left and nursed him back to health?”

Ondrej scowls. “I didn’t want to go on that trip anyway, and I had extra medicine!”

Nikita scoffs, shaking his head. “If you still don’t want to admit it, fine, but please come up with better excuses.”

“It’s not an excuse, it’s the truth!” Ondrej insists, starting to feel a little shaky, vision getting blurry around the edges. He can’t be in love with Tyler, it just isn’t…isn’t… 

“Yeah, I think we might need to call someone to go sit with him, he looks like he really did just figure it out,” Vladdy opines thoughtfully, tilting his head and then setting it on Nikita’s shoulder. “Either that or he’s having a mental break.”

“Realizing he’s in love with Tyler might be the same thing,” Nikita jokes, smirking when Ondrej growls at those words. “Yeah, that? Not the first time you’ve done that when I insulted him. So again, either you’re experiencing mental health issues, have acquired the traits of a dog suddenly, or this weird possessive/protective deal you’ve got going on adds up to what Vladdy and I have been telling you.”

“I want to agree with what you said earlier about not being able to believe that he didn’t realize, but Tyler definitely doesn’t realize either,” Vladdy points out. “And yeah they’re both oblivious, but Tyler has a really good radar for when people are into him.”

Nikita nods thoughtfully; they’ve all seen it in action at various clubs and bars throughout both Los Angeles and Manhattan - Tyler can glance at around the room and determine based on basically a single glance whether or not another person will be willing to go home with him. Unfortunately, as both Ondrej and Alex can attest, this power rarely extends to being able to tell when people are into his friends; that, combined with his tendency to giggle when he hears others spout pick up lines, makes him an almost useless wingman.

“Holy shit, Nik, what am I going to do?” Ondrej asks after a few moments, choosing to ignore their banter at his expense. He wishes he could say it’s because he’s a good person, but at this point it’s more because he’s just too freaked out to muster up any decent comebacks. 

“I mean, you have two choices,” Nikita states, rolling his eyes when Vladdy elbows him. “Fine, three choices. One, tell him. Two, don’t and go along with it anyway. Three, tell him you can’t do the fake dating thing. And I think we all know which one you’re going to pick, because you know…” he makes a whip cracking motion, grinning when it causes Vladdy to fall into him cackling. 

Ondrej hangs up on him.

* * *

Since Ondrej planned the first date, Tyler insisted on planning their next one and keeping it a secret just as Ondrej had. Not that Ondrej would ever let Tyler know, but that makes him somewhat anxious. As much fun as Tyler can be, he’s not exactly known for his stellar planning and organizational skills. He much prefers to take things as they come and ‘roll with the punches’. And while Ondrej is fine with that attitude on a movie or tv set, it’s not a mindset he likes to apply to his life. 

Tyler can clearly tell that Ondrej is feeling anxious, because he rolls his eyes. “Dude, chill! I know you’re going to love this, I asked my mom for advice.”

Ondrej looks over at Tyler sharply, pushing his sunglasses atop his head. “You told your mom?!” 

“I just told her that I needed some ideas for a date and I really wanted to impress the person, chill out,” Tyler placates him. “She doesn’t know it’s you.”

“Tyler…” Ondrej manages through gritted teeth. “The entire reason you wanted to do this is so the press would get wind of it. I know that our parents aren’t exactly glued to the entertainment news, but my mom at least has Google Alerts for my name. They’re going to find out!” 

“No, yeah, I know that,” Tyler says hesitantly, glancing over at Ondrej before turning his eyes back to the road and shifting his grip on the steering wheel so that he’s holding it with both hands now. “But I meant like she’s not going to know it’s fake, I didn’t tell her that part. Because we said we wouldn’t. Unless you changed your mind? A-about the whole thing. We can just call it off, I’ll tell my agent to forget it.”

Ondrej takes a deep breath, placing a gentle hand on Tyler’s shoulder when he stops at a red light. “No, no I don’t want that. You’re right. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

Tyler looks at him for long enough that the car behind them blares it’s horn when Tyler doesn’t immediately floor it as the light turns. He hastily puts his attention back on the road, but Ondrej can tell that he’s still feeling uneasy, so he squeezes his shoulder lightly and takes another deep breath. “I’m sure it’ll be great, Ty,” he murmurs.

* * *

Tyler was right, Ondrej does love this. Normally he wouldn’t be into bowling, but the whole atmosphere at Highland Park Bowl is lighthearted and fun, with enough people just there to have a good time to balance out those who are clearly competing with glory in mind. 

Ondrej isn’t the best bowler the world has ever seen, but he’s been in stitches watching some of Tyler’s attempts. He’s winning by enough that he could skip the last two frames and still take the game handily, something Tyler is clearly aware of if the scowl on his face is any indication. 

Ondrej doesn’t purposefully do worse the last couple of frames, but admittedly he also isn’t putting in his top effort anymore. Tyler glares at him when he goes up to throw his final ball of the game, saying, “We’ll get food after this before we play another game, asshole.”

“Whatever you want, babe,” he replies, doing his best to keep the amusement out of his voice but certain he doesn’t manage very well.

The food is great, Tyler managing to shake off his bad mood from being beaten so badly during the first round of bowling and the conversation flowing as it always does between the two of them. Nikita and Vladdy may mock him for not noticing that he’s in love with Tyler, but honestly it’s always been so easy… he’s never had to worry about how he interacts with Tyler, unlike so many of the other people that he’s met through this business. Making it in acting is no joke, and making it with actual friends who won’t stab you in the back or kick you to the curb at the drop of a hat? Almost impossible. Ondrej has probably been in denial simply to protect the one true friendship he still has in L.A.

He shakes himself out of his slight melancholy before Tyler can notice, allowing him to pick up the check without argument since Ondrej had covered the Observatory and dinner that followed. They’d decided early on that switching off on who paid would be the easiest way to avoid arguments or feelings of indebtedness, which could only lead to bad places. Once the bill is taken care of, they head back to the lanes, quickly getting their bowling shoes back on and getting settled. 

* * *

“I’ve been duped,” Ondrej says faintly, staring at the scoreboard as it flashes a cartoon turkey doing a dance as Tyler does a little victory dance next to him. 

“Uhh, yeah,” Tyler giggles. “About earlier.”

“You brat, you totally played me!” Ondrej accuses, standing to pull Tyler into a headlock, giving him a noogie and ignoring any protests about his hair. “I can’t believe I fell for that earlier!”

“Well I am an actor,” Tyler says cockily, grinning at Ondrej smarmily once he’s extricated himself from the headlock. “Want some tips?”

Ondrej rolls his eyes and throws up his hands before taking a deep breath and letting a determined expression settle across his face. “I’ll settle for a rematch.”


End file.
